Reunions
by AshtonJacks
Summary: On a very important night for Emily, the ghosts of her past threaten to crush her dreams. featuring emily, Luke, Gia and more


  
Yet another one hour challenge story :)  
  
Start 5:54  
November 2001  
  
Emily rushed around Luke's club in frustration. "Luke where are the lights. They were supposed to be here hours ago!" She raced around the club in frustration. Tonight was her big night and nothing was right. After a year of working for L&B this would be her professional coming out and everything would just have to be right.  
  
"Calm down little darlin.'" Luke said in an even tone as he motioned toward a man carrying some lights. "They just got here but I promise you they'll be up in time."  
  
"How can you promise that?" Em looked up at her best friend's father.  
  
Luke slipped an arm around the young woman's shoulder. "Cause I can. Don't forget Emily that this club has hosted the greatest blues legend ever."  
  
The corners of Emily's mouth quirked up in a smile. "Etta James played here?"  
  
"Ok Ms. Quartermaine I stand corrected, the greatest male blues legend ever played here." He enjoyed her easy banter with the younger woman. It would help him to deal with the night. Somehow this pretty young thing had convinced him to host a showcase of L&B artists. Eddie Maine would close the show, while newcomer Gia Campbell would open it. Luke wasn't thrilled with either person, as fellow town member of performers, but the draw of the crowd would be free advertising for the club.  
  
"Thanks Luke I know it will be ok." Emily said as she looked at the stage. "It's just my first night in control of things and it has to be right."  
  
"It will be. I promise." Luke said with a small smile. He wanted the young girl to succeed to spite her family. They had never planned for the young woman to go into the music industry but things had changed last year. She had become her own woman after being kidnapped and independence was something the Quartermaines had never dealt well with.   
  
"Em there you are!" The woman with the long dark hair and sensual smile ran up to Emily. "I am so nervous." She said in a shaking voice. "Not only will my family be here.... but you know, everyone else in town."   
  
"You'll do fine too." Luke said as he patted the other woman's shoulder. "Now enough of my encouragement you two get to work." He softened his words with the smallest of smiles before assuming his position at the bar.  
  
"What's wrong?" Emily asked as she studied Gia. The other young woman wore an expression of such loneliness. It was a feeling Emily identified with in the extreme. They had both known love, and love had left them. "You miss him don't you. You wish he was here for your big night don't you?"  
  
Gia nodded sadly and brushed at a tear that made it's gentle descent down her mocha skin. She lowered her voice, wary of anyone else hearing her heartbreak. "There will never be anyone else for me, Emily. Nik was the one."   
  
"I know." Emily said as she frowned, her thoughts on her own lost love. "Come on." She said as she pulled on Gia's hand. "Liz is doing your makeup. What colors are we going with tonight."  
  
"Doesn't matter." Gia said halfheartedly.  
  
"Come on Gia." Emily said in a stern tone. "He's gone. You and little Nicola are making a life for yourselves. You have a top twenty hit in three countries and you're climbing the charts stateside. You're a sensation. Don't pin your existence on a long lost love."  
  
Gia had had enough. "Don't you lecture me Emily." She said in a sharp tone. "God and everyone know that you haven't been the same since Zander got arrested. Put your stones away, sister cause your glass house might get shattered too."  
  
Emily's eyes widened when Gia spoke. She was torn between anger and upset for her friend's harsh words and guilt for having provoked the attack in the first place. It wasn't as if Gia's words weren't true. She hadn't lived since Zander had been arrested. She sighed and gave her friend a hug. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Me too." Gia whispered as she held her friend close. "Let's put our faces on for this shindig."  
  
~*~  
  
Nikolas Cassadine watched the crowd assembling at Luke's from deep within the shadows of the night. He had been away from Port Charles for so long, having made his life elsewhere and didn't think the town held any appeal for him anymore. After his uncle had been found with Chloe Morgan and very alive, Nikolas had been furious. How could the man that he loved like a father make him suffer the same grave injustice that his mother had years before. Stefan had seen Nikolas' grief in the most intimate and person of ways. He could no longer in good conscience call the man uncle. Shortly after Stefan's triumphant return and the renewal of Cassadine /Spencer tensions it had all gotten to be too much for Nikolas.  
  
He could still remember that night clearly. In one day he had gotten into arguments with Luke, Helena, Lucky, Stefan, his mother and Gia. Sweet Gia, she was supposed to have been his salvation. If he had stayed in town, she would have been. They had fallen in love and had been entering a new phase of their lives, a sexual element to their relationship, when he had broken under the pressure. He had booked a plane fight just after making love to her, incapable of dealing with all the stresses in his life. He had traveled first to France, then settled in a small village in Denmark. But he had never moved on. His heart and souls were hers for eternity.  
  
Then one day he had heard that voice on a radio station in his hometown. He had immediately known it was her, as she had taken to singing him to sleep just before things had fragmented. When he heard that Gia was an L&B artist, he had known that his eternity was still within grasp. He had to try for happiness with her, even if rebuffed. He wouldn't really blame her if she never spoke to him again.  
  
He started to turn around, fully intending to leave, when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder. "Don't leave on my account Nikky."   
  
He knew that smarmy voice. "Luke, it's been awhile." Nik was every inch the cool aristocrat now.  
  
"It has prince.' Luke said appraising his stepson for a moment. "You don't write. You don't call. Your mother and sister miss you."  
  
Nikolas winced. "Last time I saw you, you told me to stay away from them Luke." He reminded.  
  
It was Luke's turn to wince. "I was wrong ok. Now get yourself in there. The little lady misses you." When Nik balked for a minute, Luke pushed him forward.  
  
~*~  
  
"One down, one to go." Luke muttered. He knew Zander Smith was outside the club somwhere. The boy had just been released from prison that very day, and what better place to spend his first night of freedom. "I feel like some freaky cupid." Luke muttered.   
  
Zander watched the older man as he traversed the area around the club. He seemed to be looking for something or someone in the gloom of the night. He huddled into his jean jacket and braced his shoulders against the cold. The clothes weren't much but they were his. They might be the only things he owned beside his freedom, but they meant everything to him. He was out of jail now, and Sorrel was long dead. Sonny Corinthos owned the streets and Zander had been promised safety unless he hurt one of Corinthos' friends. He had no desire to do that/ the endless parade of federal prisons and the dozen aliases he had assumed were the sole reasons for his survival.  
  
"There you are." Luke said as he collared the other young man. "You get in there too. The lady is waiting for you." He gently pushed the younger man toward the door. "Come on now, it's cold out here."  
  
~*~  
  
Emily felt so nervous as she took the stage to introduce her friend. This showcase meant so much to the company. "Welcome to Luke's." She said automatically as she scanned the first few tables, smiling extra brightly at Taggert and Gia's mom, who were cuddling Nicola. "We have a great new artist to introduce you to tonight." Then her eyes drifted back to the bar and widened. It couldn't be....could it? IT was! Without thinking about her words, she continued "Put your hands together for little Nicola's Mommy, Gia Campbell."  
  
As Gia took the stage, Emily clutched her arm. "Our lives are starting over." She whispered before bounding off the stage and into her soulmate's arms. Gia arched an eyebrow as she watched Emily with Zander, then her eyes lit upon the dark haired man standing next to the happy couple. "Nikolas?" She said into the mic. When he nodded, she beamed brightly. "I'm taking five, Luke put on some tunes." Her words followed her flight into Nikolas' arms.  
  
"Welcome home." She whispered before their lips touched in a kiss to start an eternity.  
  
End 6:53  
  
  
  



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